Disclaimer: No I don't own.

AN: Inspired and set during the thirteenth mission of the game.

The dull grey landscape rumbled with the sound of marching as dozens of small, well disciplined orc units marched their way through the narrow mountain pass to reach their destination. Each unit had a pink robed mage marching at its centre, or mage hovering on a flying carpet above them.

It was to one of these mages that we go to now, a skinny male in decorated pink robes with a bulbous round head.

Mage Krothu smirked as he looked out over the massive army assembled before him, or more accurately, beneath him. Marching in tight formations, the cutting elite of the orc army in Xeen was here to meet the renegade dragon head on and doubtless win.

He snorted with contempt as he thought about the stories coming out of this desolate land, stories of an unstoppable monster that tore through both the orc armies and navies with ease. It was a single dragon. They used to die by the dozen in the old factory at Desmurian Ty factory. In fact, Krothu was sure that he could probably kill this unstoppable monster on his own. Not for nothing was he a decorated veteran of several battles against the elves to the north.

There was a deafening roar as they exited the canyon and for the first time Mage Krothu felt a sliver of doubt slide into his mind.

In front of them was no scared human, elf or dwarf army who he could look down on from his perch, but rather a rather large and somewhat powerful-looking dragon. A large, powerful-looking dragon with huge muscles and rather sharp teeth. And he was flying right at him.

Moving quickly, he threw up a temporary dark ward and the dragon corkscrewed away rapidly. He jeered, as did several of the archers in his unit, sending arrows after the retreating dragon just to be sure.

The dragon vanished and Krothu began to feel uneasy once more. There was a prickling sensation across the hairs on the back of his neck, like he was being watched by hidden, hostile eyes. It was…unsettling. He kept his eyes open, scanning the sky for any sign of the cursed beast as they moved through the more open fields ahead of them. Well, relatively more open at least. It would certainly give him more chance to see the dragon first at least.

Unfortunately there were still mountains and valleys nearby for the dragon to hide behind, all the same mottled green, brown and grey colour. It was almost as though a lazy god had just decided he couldn't be bothered with a more varied landscape.

They kept on moving and still there was no sign of the dragon. It was almost as though he had just fled the battlefield and Krothu began to relax a little. Maybe that was what he had done. So much for the fierce dragon everyone was talking about! Clearly he was no match for the elite troops of the orc army.

However his words sounded pretty hollow in his ears. For one thing, the burnt remains of the units that had attacked earlier were still smouldering around them and several destroyed towers only added to the effect.

There was a deafening roar and suddenly they could all see the dragon very clearly. A bit too clearly for Krothu's liking, but this time he was better prepared. He threw up another dark ward, expecting the beast to twist away like it had before.

This time however the dragon didn't corkscrew away in a panic but breathed out a fireball that crashed onto the ground beneath Krothu. Orcs squealed and the smell of burning flesh entered Krothu's nostrils. Grabbing his staff, he sent spell after spell at the impudent dragon. How dare he not die when he was supposed to! The dragon drifted closer, shifting from side to side and Krothu's attacks mostly flew past him as a result.

Suddenly the dragon was close. Too close in fact. Much, much too close. He had time for a momentary scream before it was cut off by a sudden crunching sound as the dragon snapped his mouth shut around him.

Down below him, the orcs were showered in orc blood and guts. Little wonder then that they broke and ran. For what else can an orc do when faced with such sights? And what started with one unit quickly spread until the remaining units fled in terror in not an orderly fashion but a full blown rout.

"The orc army is in retreat! You've done it Cael!" Adara the sprite exclaimed in a high pitched voice and Cael winced. "Too bad Mandek got away, but at least they aren't as ugly from this angle."

"Perhaps, but I wish they tasted better," Cael replied, spitting out Mage Krothu's bones. "It's almost disappointing."

"Never mind, it's almost over," Adara replied with a smile. "Now lets head for the city!"

Without further ado, Cael rose into the sky and headed for the orc capital.